Seaton Cricket Club recently held a cricket tea by way of officially opening the new Devon Air Ambulance Community Landing Site on their Court Lane ground.

Seaton Cricket Club now have a light to enable the Devon Air Ambulance to make night time landings on the Court Lane playing surface. Picture: SEATON CRICKET CLUB

Representatives of both Seaton Town Council and Devon Air Ambulance attended, along with members of the cricket club and a number of people who donated their time and energy to raise funds for the project.

The Seaton site forms part of a network of nearly 100 Community Landing Sites across the county - with many more in development. The funding for the lighting at Seaton Cricket Club was provided through the efforts of local people alongside a grant from the Bank LIBOR Fines, awarded through Devon Air Ambulance (DAA). The site in Seaton will enable DAA to reach our community until midnight every day and later to 2am when the service is extended in 2019.

Former Seaton CC chairman Chris Gamwell, who was instrumental in bringing the landing site to the club, said: “Seaton Cricket Club has seen the Air Ambulance land on the outfield many times over the years during daylight hours, so it seemed a logical next step to enable night landings to take place here too.”

Toby Russell, DAA Community Landing Sites Officer, said: “Devon Air Ambulance would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped establish the Seaton Community Landing Site.

“We are very grateful to Seaton Cricket Club, who have readily supported the project and enabled part of their ground to be used for operations ‘during the hours of darkness’.

“Many thanks also to former councillor Martin Pigott and Seaton Town Council and all the local people who helped raise the funds for the lighting at the cricket club – a great community effort.”

Former Seaton town councillor and member of the cricket club, Martin Pigott thanked those who had raised the funds to enable the installation of the floodlighting to allow night landings to take place.

He said: “We’d like to thank Guy Sweetman from East Devon Sports therapy and the Seaton Free Masons for their significant donations.

“Thanks also go to the team of runners who braved the Grizzly in last year’s snow to raise much-needed funds.”

Current Seaton CC chairman Stephen Pritchard thanked those in attendance and others who were unable to make it and commented: “With the Cricket World Cup coming to England and Wales next year we were secretly hoping that the floodlighting would illuminate the whole ground so that we could offer to host day-night fixtures!”